Wisconsin Congressman Mark Pocan will not be endorsing either Democratic presidential candidate, ahead of next Tuesday’s primary.

The Madison Democrat said Thursday that he has not even decided who he’s voting for on April 5th, calling both former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders “really good choices” who are better options than any of the Republicans currently running the race. “When you have two really good choices, that’s a good thing,” Pocan said.

Pocan, who has a super delegate vote at the Democratic National Convention later this summer, said any decision on an endorsement would come after the state primaries wrap up in June. I’m going to be watching what happens through all the rest…and at that point, I’ll decide what to do.”

He said his main concern right now is making sure they are bringing supporters of both Clinton and Sanders back “into the fold” after the April 5th primary, as Democrats push to hold on to the White House in November. Pocan said several members of Congress have taken that position because they feel “if we haven’t picked a side, we are in a much better place to do that.”

Pocan is the only Democratic member of the states U.S. House delegation not to publicly support a candidate ahead of the primary, with Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI) and Gwen Moore (D-WI) both supporting Clinton in the race for the nomination.

Wisconsin’s concealed carry program passed a major milestone earlier this month – issuing permit number 300,000 since the program began in 2011.

The state Department of Justice announced that the permit was issued on March 24, following a period of heavy activity that kicked off the year. The agency said applications have been coming in this year at “record high levels” and that “interest in firearm ownership shows no signs of subsiding.”

Since January 1 of this year, the DOJ Criminal Information Bureau has processed 19,515 concealed carry applications, and 131,648 requests for Handgun Hotline background checks.

Contested Republican and Democratic presidential primaries, a closely watched race for state Supreme Court, more than 3,000 local elections, and 72 school funding referendums across Wisconsin are all factors in driving voter turnout, which is expected to be about forty percent next Tuesday, according to Kevin Kennedy with the state Government Accountability Board.

The GAB wants to make sure that that everyone who wants to vote is able to do so. Kennedy says the website My Vote Wisconsin. “This allows people to see whether or not they are registered to vote, and where to find your polling place,” Kennedy said.

The April 5th elections will also be the second in which all voters are required to bring a state approved photo ID to the polls. There’s more on that, including informational videos, at Bring It To The Ballot.

While he supported Barack Obama in 2008, former Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle plans to help Democrat Hillary Clinton in the presidential race this time around.

During a Clinton stop in Madison this week, Doyle said he made the decision to support the former of Secretary of State while watching the Republican and Democratic presidential debates last year. He said that while watching the candidates, he realized there “really was only one person on either stage who could take on the incredible job of being president of the United States…and that was Hillary Clinton.”

Doyle was a big Obama backer eight years ago, although he said he still felt at the time that Clinton would have been a fine president as well. “She ran up against a very very unique kind of once in a lifetime type of candidate,” he said, pointing out that Clinton learned lessons from that contest that will carry over in this election.

The former governor also dismissed talk from those who might suggest it’s Clinton’s turn for the presidency. “I don’t think it’s every anybody’s time,” Doyle said. “It’s never anybody’s right or inheritance.”

AUDIO: Former Gov. Jim Doyle disagrees with claims that it’s Clinton’s time (:59)

Doyle said he has no problem with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who is also seeking the nomination, but he feels Clinton is the better choice right now. He added that Sanders deserves a lot of credit for running a good campaign, which he believes has strengthened the Democratic field.

Wisconsin has consistently voted for the Democratic nominee since 1988, and Doyle said he sees no reason for that to change this fall, no matter who is nominated. “It’s hard for me to imagine how Wisconsin goes from voting overwhelmingly twice for Barack Obama to somehow voting for Donald Trump or Ted Cruz,” he said. “They shouldn’t take us for granted, but I have little doubt that Hillary Clinton would carry Wisconsin.”

A 69-year-old serial killer will try in September to convince a Washington County Judge that he should be released from the Mendota Mental Health Institute. Alvin Taylor has been confined to the Mendota facility since the late 1980s, after he killed four men in Wisconsin and Minnesota between 1985 and 1988.

Taylor admitted to killing Robert Williams of Eau Claire in 1985; 42-year-old James Severson of Eau Claire and 33-year-old Daniel Lundgren of West Bend in1986; and 27-year-old Timothy Hayden of Menomonie in 1987.

Taylor was arrested at Hayden’s funeral and subsequently was found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect in the four slayings. He’s been institutionalized at Mendota ever since.

Taylor was a nightclub singer who travelled across the both states. Taylor has been regularly seeking a conditional release from confinement since 2010. Two psychiatrists evaluated Taylor last fall after he filed the latest request. Judge Andrew Gonring set a September 7 trial date. Even if Taylor’s release would be approved in Washington County, he would still need approval from courts in Dunn and Eau Claire Counties as well as Minnesota.

Democrat Russ Feingold’s lead in the race for the U.S. Senate in Wisconsin saw a sharp drop, according to the latest Marquette University Law School poll.

The poll released Wednesday shows Feingold leading Republican Senator incumbent Ron Johnson 47-42 percent among registered voters. Among likely voters, that gap shrunk to 48-45 percent. Feingold led Johnson 49-37 percent in a similar poll done in late February.

Poll director Charles Franklin said some of that narrowing may be due to the heightened interest in the presidential race, with more people getting engaged and putting their support behind their party’s candidate.

Feingold is running to reclaim the seat he lost to Johnson in 2010. The election is in November.

Former West Allis police officer Steven Zelich has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for the first of the two “Suitcase Murders” he was accused of committing.

If he’s alive after his prison term, the 54-year-old Zelich will be put under extended supervision for killing 19-year-old Jenny Gamez of Oregon in 2012 in Kenosha. Zelich is also awaiting charges in Minnesota, where he’s accused of killing Laura Simonson in 2013 in Rochester.

His attorney says Zelich engaged in rough sex with both women, and the deaths were not intentional.

Zelich pleaded guilty to reduced charges in Kenosha County that include reckless homicide. He still faces two Walworth County charges of hiding corpses, after he allegedly dumped suitcases containing the bodies along a roadside near Lake Geneva.

One of the Milwaukee Brewers top prospects made his spring debut, helping the Brewers knock off the Colorado Rockies 5-4 in the Cactus League finale.

Outfielder Brett Phillips started in right field on Wednesday after missing most of spring camp with a strained left oblique muscle. Phillips preserved a tie game in the eighth inning when he caught a fly ball and threw Colorado’s Tim Smalling out at the plate.

Kirk Niewenhuis drove home the winning run with a single in the ninth, and Scooter Gennett homered for the third time this spring as the Brewers finished 13-13-and-two in Cactus League play.

The Brewers are in Houston to face the Astros in a pair of exhibitions tonight and Friday night. They’ll play an exhibition Saturday against their Double-A affiliate in Biloxi, Mississippi before returning to Milwaukee to face the San Francisco Giants in the regular season opener on Monday.

Tony Granato spent 13 seasons as a player in the NHL and has been a coach in the league for an additional ten-plus seasons. He’s been playing and coaching in the league that hockey people aspire to get to. Yet given the opportunity to coach the Wisconsin Badger hockey team, he didn’t hesitate.

Granato had one condition when Barry Alvarez offered him the job. He wanted his brother Don Granato and another former Badger, Mark Osiecki to join him as associated head coaches. [Read more…]